In recent weeks I've been told off several times for "throwing [my]self at fully grown men." Despite this making me sound like some sort of seductive temptress who lures married men away from their innocent, loving wives, the reality is simpler, and less sordid. Far from being cast as the femme fatale in this little skit I am, in fact, being described as childish. But, never one to take criticism too seriously (haha, yeah right) I've not let this deter me, and I'm carrying on doing my thing. Haters gonna hate and all that.
Everyone who knows me is aware that I am, when appropriate, a very tactile person. In fact, I've even written about it on this blog. It's no big secret, I like hugs. It's how I make and greet friends, how I say goodbye; it's how I show thanks, or apologise; it's how I show sympathy or tell someone that I'm sorry they're having a bad time. I even hug people to put my magical healing properties into action.
At work over the summer I made many new friends and renewed some old acquaintances. I also found in Other Dan (Fleabag Monkeyboy) someone who is as tactile and friendly as I am. Which was amazing. And, after some discussion about friends and handling interpersonal relationships, hugging became part of our daily communication. (The same can be said for Dan, who also willingly jumped on the hug wagon - often taking it a little too far...)
Seeing old friends after a long time apart has also led to much encircling of people in arms recently, as I have returned to my "spiritual home" (intellectual home? part-time home? who knows?!) in Nottingham after more than a year away. Seeing Declan and Tom led to more grasping of fully grown men into welcoming and friendly death grips/embraces in the kitchen, the street, the cinema, and the bus stop. Even Lewis, who I saw in March on a fleeting trip round Braun Town, was (willingly) subjected to a cuddle in the middle of the Clive Granger Building. Not that I had much choice; his arms are so long he'd have hugged me from the end of the corridor...
Of course, seeing Emily, Chloe and Helen, my former TEAM from Abbey Road (or what normal people call "housemates"), again after so long also called for hugs! Especially after Chloe had actually worked out who I was. However, they are not grown men, so their mention in this blog is only honorary.
Last weekend I also did my share of hugging when I wasn't being the Super Scout Translator. I spent the weekend in Viernheim with my wonderful DPSG friends, and Paul and Nicole from Potters Bar. Seeing Gabi always calls for a hug; ditto Markus, who is about as full grown and male as it gets. Other friends, who I only got to know at the weekend, were not greeted with hugs, but were still cuddled close to my healing chest upon departure, meaning I left with more hugs than I arrived with! In fact, I wasn't even the cuddliest person on the weekend trip; the two young daughters of Paul and Nicole's hosts were far cuddlier than I during my time in Viernheim last week. We were, in the most literal sense, welcomed into the bosom of the family.
There are, naturally, many people I haven't had the chance to hug recently too. The most obvious to me are members of my family, including my grandparents (and Jean, of course. She counts), Auntie Margaret, and various aunts, uncles, cousins, and Victorian swimsuit models. There are lots of friends I haven't seen for a long time, too, including most of my old Owen's pals, who I seemed to always miss seeing over the summer. I'll hug them all soon. Then of course there are the people who are too far away, such as Daniel, Doreen, Sammi, Crowdy... The list is practically endless.
So in conclusion, a good, healthy hug is perfectly OK. There is nothing bad about expressing friendship through physical contact (except in a Scout leader/Explorer context, which is sad. But Teej is 18 now at least!), so the haters can shut up. Bad haters. Don't you have something important to be doing? Like researching Charles Taylor or something? Jeez.
Of course, respecting boundaries is important, and it's a pain when someone gets all up in your grill. But in general, throwing yourself at fully grown men is a perfectly acceptable pastime. And far better than throwing yourself at, for example, brick walls. Or tubas. Or poisonous snakes.
Anyway, Rachel wants dinner, so I'd better stop writing now!
Showing posts with label Free Hugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Free Hugs. Show all posts
Thursday, 29 September 2016
Saturday, 16 February 2013
Am I The Only One...?
OK, so Valentine's has been and gone (And I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise for Oliver once again) and I'm pondering its aftermath. For some, obviously, their relationships have been strengthened and for others it's a beautiful beginning. For me, I always find Valentine's Day a little bit creepy.
I mean, I got a card from someone, who I'm still not convinced isn't my parents. But if it's not my parents, then I find it a bit creepy, to be honest. I can't really think of anyone who knows my address that would send me a card, which means that someone else went out of their way to obtain my address and send me a card. Am I the only one who finds that a little bit odd if this person isn't willing to tell me who they actually are? I would much rather that whoever this person is (providing it's not a joke or something) just told me if they like me.
Anyway, I found this picture the other day, then lost it, then found it again. And I thought you lovely people would like to see it because it made me smile. This is how I feel about people when I do things for them. Happy Valentine's Day, person.
Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter (or Tweeter as I saw it called today) at @EmPernilla and I sometimes say things. It can be quite nice.
Thanks :)
Anyway, I found this picture the other day, then lost it, then found it again. And I thought you lovely people would like to see it because it made me smile. This is how I feel about people when I do things for them. Happy Valentine's Day, person.
Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter (or Tweeter as I saw it called today) at @EmPernilla and I sometimes say things. It can be quite nice.
Thanks :)
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Monday, 5 November 2012
Communication
Well, I'm back with a vengeance ladies and gentlemen!! I'd love to say it was because I've had nothing to do, but to be honest, I've had absolutely no time. So, whilst lots and lots of things have been happening, I haven't bothered to update y'all. I'm excited about my life at the moment and (although it is fairly standard, for me) I am very happy for my friends, whose lives are all picking up!
Anyway, there is something fairly major I'd like to whinge about/ponder today. Communication. There is one specific person, who will remain nameless, who does not reply to any message that I ever send him. Chances are, he won't read this, because I don't really matter. Thing is, he is a good friend and I see no reason why he wouldn't reply, he must just be lazy. Or I am bad at judging my friends. But it's sometimes quite important that we talk & organise things outside of school and he doesn't bother to reply, which is annoying.
On the other hand, there are some people who share every. Single. Detail of their lives with you. That gets annoying (oh, right). But seriously, those people who tweet or update Facebook every time they sneeze. It just gets really annoying. Really, really annoying. Yes, person I haven't seen for six years, it IS raining, well done!
Sorry, obviously I have a lot to moan about today and little interesting to say. I'll try and put something fun up in the next few days about Ross and his amazing, erm, hose. And our Death Match, that was epic. I came second! ;)
But seriously, Captain, if you read this (why would you?) It's be nice to actually be able to talk to you. Some of it's fairly important.
Anyway, there is something fairly major I'd like to whinge about/ponder today. Communication. There is one specific person, who will remain nameless, who does not reply to any message that I ever send him. Chances are, he won't read this, because I don't really matter. Thing is, he is a good friend and I see no reason why he wouldn't reply, he must just be lazy. Or I am bad at judging my friends. But it's sometimes quite important that we talk & organise things outside of school and he doesn't bother to reply, which is annoying.
On the other hand, there are some people who share every. Single. Detail of their lives with you. That gets annoying (oh, right). But seriously, those people who tweet or update Facebook every time they sneeze. It just gets really annoying. Really, really annoying. Yes, person I haven't seen for six years, it IS raining, well done!
Sorry, obviously I have a lot to moan about today and little interesting to say. I'll try and put something fun up in the next few days about Ross and his amazing, erm, hose. And our Death Match, that was epic. I came second! ;)
But seriously, Captain, if you read this (why would you?) It's be nice to actually be able to talk to you. Some of it's fairly important.
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
List Of Things One May Feel Inclined To Buy Cards For
- Birthdays
- Christmas
- Easter
- Eid
- Hannuhak
- Diwali
- Valentine's Day
- Mother's/Mothers' Day
- Father's/Fathers' Day
- Anniversary
- Engagement
- Wedding
- Wedding Acceptance (Sender)
- Sorry, We Can't Come To Your Wedding/Soiree (Sender)
- Grievances/With Sympathy
- New Baby
- Christening/Batism/Whatever
- Good Luck
- Passing Exams
- General Congratulations
- New Home
- Getting A New Address (Sender)
- We're Moving! (Sender)
- Apology
- Late Birthday
- Thank You
- New Job
- New School
- Leaving An Old Job
- Retirement
- Get Well Soon
- Justin Bieber Day. (It's actually a thing. Today. If you send me a card for this, I will disassociate myself from you permanently.)
Birthdays
Today is Eduin's Birthday, so it is fairly obvious that I am pondering Birthdays. (duh, that's what the post title is...) Anyway, Birthdays are a quite ridiculous invention. I mean, a day to celebrate having been born x number of years ago. It's not like you've actually planned for it to happen, it just did. Well, obviously someone probably planned it, or at least allowed it, so it's not totally random. But you see my point.
So, why do we have all these traditions for Birthdays? Parties, for example. As a child (and still now) the party was the best bit of having a Birthday for me. It meant I could get all my friends together, who didn't necessarily know eachother, or who hadn't seen eachother for a long time, and we got to do something awesome for a couple of hours. Like caving, or swimming, or just playing pass the parcel (a totally normal 16th Birthday party - it surpassed the passing of any past parcel which had been passed in the past!) and the fact that it was your Birthday Party, that everyone was there to see you, made it even better. But why do we have parties to celebrate Birthdays? Why not have a special meal with family and/or friends, like we do at Christmas? Or decorate trees? Or have hunts around the garden (or park or whatever) for tiny chocolates? Obviously, depending on your inclination, you could do any of these things (except perhaps the tree) on your Birthday, but why isn't there something universal, like there are for other celebrations?
And what about presents? This has never made sense to me. Not that I'm complaining, everyone likes presents, but they don't really mean anything, do they? At Christmas, we give eachother presents to represent two things; firstly, God's gift of His son into the world and secondly the giving of the gifts from the Wise Men to Jesus. (N.B. If you're an atheist/non-Christian believer and you give presents at Christmas, it just makes you as nice person.) So why Birthdays? Is it meant to be a sort of prize? Congratulations on not having died since this time last year? Or is it an incentive to carry on living? It doesn't really represent anything, except for the fact that your birth is being celebrated several years too late by those who love you (or at least like you a bit).
Finally, cards. Whilst they are pretty and are given at many, many occasions (which I cannot be bothered to list here) they do appear to be a little bit silly. regardless of what pictures they have on them, or silly messages they have inside or whatever they are still a little piece of folded up paper containing a sentiment which would be more genuine if it was said out loud anyway.
I may never understand the logistics of Birthdays, but hopefully I shall continue to live to celebrate many more, not only of my own, but also everyone else, because you're all awesome people too.
As always, any comments (not too rude) are welcome and you can still follow me on Twitter - @EmPernilla (although why you would want to, I don't know)
:-)
So, why do we have all these traditions for Birthdays? Parties, for example. As a child (and still now) the party was the best bit of having a Birthday for me. It meant I could get all my friends together, who didn't necessarily know eachother, or who hadn't seen eachother for a long time, and we got to do something awesome for a couple of hours. Like caving, or swimming, or just playing pass the parcel (a totally normal 16th Birthday party - it surpassed the passing of any past parcel which had been passed in the past!) and the fact that it was your Birthday Party, that everyone was there to see you, made it even better. But why do we have parties to celebrate Birthdays? Why not have a special meal with family and/or friends, like we do at Christmas? Or decorate trees? Or have hunts around the garden (or park or whatever) for tiny chocolates? Obviously, depending on your inclination, you could do any of these things (except perhaps the tree) on your Birthday, but why isn't there something universal, like there are for other celebrations?
And what about presents? This has never made sense to me. Not that I'm complaining, everyone likes presents, but they don't really mean anything, do they? At Christmas, we give eachother presents to represent two things; firstly, God's gift of His son into the world and secondly the giving of the gifts from the Wise Men to Jesus. (N.B. If you're an atheist/non-Christian believer and you give presents at Christmas, it just makes you as nice person.) So why Birthdays? Is it meant to be a sort of prize? Congratulations on not having died since this time last year? Or is it an incentive to carry on living? It doesn't really represent anything, except for the fact that your birth is being celebrated several years too late by those who love you (or at least like you a bit).
Finally, cards. Whilst they are pretty and are given at many, many occasions (which I cannot be bothered to list here) they do appear to be a little bit silly. regardless of what pictures they have on them, or silly messages they have inside or whatever they are still a little piece of folded up paper containing a sentiment which would be more genuine if it was said out loud anyway.
I may never understand the logistics of Birthdays, but hopefully I shall continue to live to celebrate many more, not only of my own, but also everyone else, because you're all awesome people too.
As always, any comments (not too rude) are welcome and you can still follow me on Twitter - @EmPernilla (although why you would want to, I don't know)
:-)
Monday, 28 May 2012
Coping with Stress
Hey sexy beasts (and Stanley). Today, for obvious reasons, My ponderings (ponderances? Ponders? Ponderations?) have been on stress, anger and how people deal with such things. What do people do to "release" themselves? I have some friends who work best under stress and don't like bing too relaxed around exam time. I have another friend who combats stress by doing more work, to prove she can. I have yet other friends who relieve their anguish by baking which is lovely, but means everyone I know will have diabetes and heart disease by the time they're 20, including me, but I was going that way anyway.
Other people do other things, such as trolling, dancing, sex, self-harm, knitting and a myriad of other, more socially acceptable things as stress-busting techniques. I, as always, have my own take on this. Personally, I do five things:
These are all, I find, incredibly useful. As is eating, but I'm not allowed to do that any more :(
Another thing I do to stop from stressing/exploding is to change the topic of discussion, or what I'm thinking about. If I'm Stressed about exams, I'll think about saxophone music, or normal music, or about how awesome my life will be when all my exams are finished and I can finally do what I want. If I'm stressed about the future, or relationships (hahahahaha) or whatever, then thinking about work and upcoming projects is incredibly useful, or again thinking about music nc playing the saxophone keeps me from melting or something similar. If the stress is caused by an argument, I sleep.
Again, eating is also useful, but bad.
Comments?
- Exercise; walk, cycle or cross train all my anger and stress away whilst listening to some arse-kicking power rock.
- Mind puzzles; solitaire, Majong, crosswords (to which I today answered slut and moist in the same puzzle) and www.memrise.com whilst listening to some arse-kicking power rock.
- Kick-arse power rock; sing, play, listen, annoy family with...
- Cry, shout, scream & get massively angry verbally. Usually at myself.
- Sleep. A lot.
Another thing I do to stop from stressing/exploding is to change the topic of discussion, or what I'm thinking about. If I'm Stressed about exams, I'll think about saxophone music, or normal music, or about how awesome my life will be when all my exams are finished and I can finally do what I want. If I'm stressed about the future, or relationships (hahahahaha) or whatever, then thinking about work and upcoming projects is incredibly useful, or again thinking about music nc playing the saxophone keeps me from melting or something similar. If the stress is caused by an argument, I sleep.
Saturday, 21 April 2012
Ice Cream Guy
By popular demand, I have been pondering Ice Cream Guy recently. This was the guy at Butlin's, whose name was Aiden, who was serving ice cream in the restaurant.
On the first night of Jesus Camp, three of us (Lois, Louise and I) went to get pudding together. Being the old fashioned person I am, I had proper pudding, with custard, but Lois and Louise got ice cream. This led to a short, polite conversation with the Ice Cream Guy, in which I also became involved. After we went back to our table, the other girl who went to Jesus Camp with us (Adele), went up to get her ice cream and presently started a conversation with Ice Cream Guy, which she related to us as:
Adele: Did you see my friends just now?
Ice Cream Guy: The three lasses? Yeah, some of them were fit.
A: Which ones?
ICG: The one with the glasses, and the other one.
A: How old are you?
ICG: Seventeen.
A: The girl with the glasses is thirteen.
*awkward pause* Adele walks off.
We then spent a lot of time talking about this and Adele went up for ice cream at least six more times to talk to Aiden. On the last time I went with her, to stop her from doing anything stupid. She then asked Aiden "What about her?", pointing at me, to which he replied "No, I prefer the other one". Thanks. It's not like I'm a PERSON with EARS or anything... (Although, I'm neither surprised nor bothered, I don't like rude people.)
The next day, when we went to get pudding, Aiden was there again. Louise started an argument with him about how inappropriate it was for him to comment on her cousin in such a way. She was standing in what i have come to call the "fight position", legs apart, hands on hips, leaning slightly forward. I, jokingly, said "Lou, it doesn't help your point if you stand like this *copying her*", Aiden replied with "It does if she leans forward".
...
That's not even remotely funny. Plus Louise has a boyfriend. (Hi Craig!!)
Although, Aiden had one redeeming quality. He referred to Adele as "the pain". This made us laugh. A lot. We did have other encounters with aiden, but they weren't as funny, or worth writing about. Oh, except that time he followed us...
On the first night of Jesus Camp, three of us (Lois, Louise and I) went to get pudding together. Being the old fashioned person I am, I had proper pudding, with custard, but Lois and Louise got ice cream. This led to a short, polite conversation with the Ice Cream Guy, in which I also became involved. After we went back to our table, the other girl who went to Jesus Camp with us (Adele), went up to get her ice cream and presently started a conversation with Ice Cream Guy, which she related to us as:
Adele: Did you see my friends just now?
Ice Cream Guy: The three lasses? Yeah, some of them were fit.
A: Which ones?
ICG: The one with the glasses, and the other one.
A: How old are you?
ICG: Seventeen.
A: The girl with the glasses is thirteen.
*awkward pause* Adele walks off.
We then spent a lot of time talking about this and Adele went up for ice cream at least six more times to talk to Aiden. On the last time I went with her, to stop her from doing anything stupid. She then asked Aiden "What about her?", pointing at me, to which he replied "No, I prefer the other one". Thanks. It's not like I'm a PERSON with EARS or anything... (Although, I'm neither surprised nor bothered, I don't like rude people.)
The next day, when we went to get pudding, Aiden was there again. Louise started an argument with him about how inappropriate it was for him to comment on her cousin in such a way. She was standing in what i have come to call the "fight position", legs apart, hands on hips, leaning slightly forward. I, jokingly, said "Lou, it doesn't help your point if you stand like this *copying her*", Aiden replied with "It does if she leans forward".
...
That's not even remotely funny. Plus Louise has a boyfriend. (Hi Craig!!)
Although, Aiden had one redeeming quality. He referred to Adele as "the pain". This made us laugh. A lot. We did have other encounters with aiden, but they weren't as funny, or worth writing about. Oh, except that time he followed us...
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Jesus Camp (Spring Harvest) 2012
My pondering for the last week has pretty much all been about "Jesus Camp", which is what we nicknamed Spring Harvest. For those of you who have never heard of Jesus Camp, it's a gathering of roughly 7000 Christians, all together at Butlin's for one fun filled week. They run four of these throughout the Easter Holidays, three at Minehead and one at Skegness, so I was at the Skegness one, which was EPIC.
I have many things to say about this. Firstly, ONESIE!!!!!!!! This guy was a God. He wore the most AMAZING Onesie on several days of Jesus Camp, which led me to leaning out of our window of our apartment and shouting "Excuse me sir! In the Onesie! You look Excellent!" and my friend Adele yelling "Like a sexy baby grow!!" We thought, as any normal person would, that this would make him incredibly embarrassed and that he'd think we were freaks. But NO! This was Jesus Camp, therefore, we became friends with Onesie (who's actually called Will), who said we had actually helped him convince his friends that the Onesie (which wasn't his) had been a good idea. What a nice man...
Secondly, the amazing feeling that you got from the whole experience; everyone there was Christian (obviously) , which meant that you could talk openly about your faith and ask questions that my parents would complain about me asking at home, such as "What does a religious Experience actually feel like?" It also meant that you could trust everyone; if you left your bag somewhere, you could be pretty certain that it would still be there, complete with contents, when you returned. The other religious aspect of this was personal; I was able to truly find and know God through group prayer and other activities. I'm sorry for those of you who are non-believers, but I have come back from Skegness believing more strongly than ever that, even if the Bible isn't quite right all the time, there has to be a God who loves us and, in some way, created us and this Universe.
As many of you know, I have a thing for tents. Over the last week at Jesus Camp, I have discovered the Tabernacle. It is like the mother of all tents; bigger than a yurt and without the yaks. There are about six chapters of the book of Exodus designated to giving Moses the exact measurements and design for this tent of worship, including what the lamps should be made of and the size of the offertory box.
Finally, there are so many stories of Ice Cream men, Power Balls, Crazy Golf, hats, Ant and Dec and beehives that I can't even begin to tell you. Although I will quickly mention the Free Hugs, with which we somehow managed to raise more than £50 for children in Haiti. this was an excellent scheme and we made everyone feel better for it (especially when I shouted "You sir, you look like a man who likes a cuddle!" at an Emo). For anyone Christian who hasn't yet had this wonderful experience, or for those of you who are curious agnostics, I highly recommend, in fact I almost demand, that you go to Spring Harvest / Jesus Camp next year! It's a beautiful thing :)
I have many things to say about this. Firstly, ONESIE!!!!!!!! This guy was a God. He wore the most AMAZING Onesie on several days of Jesus Camp, which led me to leaning out of our window of our apartment and shouting "Excuse me sir! In the Onesie! You look Excellent!" and my friend Adele yelling "Like a sexy baby grow!!" We thought, as any normal person would, that this would make him incredibly embarrassed and that he'd think we were freaks. But NO! This was Jesus Camp, therefore, we became friends with Onesie (who's actually called Will), who said we had actually helped him convince his friends that the Onesie (which wasn't his) had been a good idea. What a nice man...
Secondly, the amazing feeling that you got from the whole experience; everyone there was Christian (obviously) , which meant that you could talk openly about your faith and ask questions that my parents would complain about me asking at home, such as "What does a religious Experience actually feel like?" It also meant that you could trust everyone; if you left your bag somewhere, you could be pretty certain that it would still be there, complete with contents, when you returned. The other religious aspect of this was personal; I was able to truly find and know God through group prayer and other activities. I'm sorry for those of you who are non-believers, but I have come back from Skegness believing more strongly than ever that, even if the Bible isn't quite right all the time, there has to be a God who loves us and, in some way, created us and this Universe.
As many of you know, I have a thing for tents. Over the last week at Jesus Camp, I have discovered the Tabernacle. It is like the mother of all tents; bigger than a yurt and without the yaks. There are about six chapters of the book of Exodus designated to giving Moses the exact measurements and design for this tent of worship, including what the lamps should be made of and the size of the offertory box.
Finally, there are so many stories of Ice Cream men, Power Balls, Crazy Golf, hats, Ant and Dec and beehives that I can't even begin to tell you. Although I will quickly mention the Free Hugs, with which we somehow managed to raise more than £50 for children in Haiti. this was an excellent scheme and we made everyone feel better for it (especially when I shouted "You sir, you look like a man who likes a cuddle!" at an Emo). For anyone Christian who hasn't yet had this wonderful experience, or for those of you who are curious agnostics, I highly recommend, in fact I almost demand, that you go to Spring Harvest / Jesus Camp next year! It's a beautiful thing :)
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